ABC - Penance

Morituri’s, Unity Townsite

“It doesn’t look like much” Ghost spoke in my ear. I had plugged the earpiece and microphone in, synched to the phone now resting in my pocket.

“It’s what is on the inside that counts” I told my partner but privately I had to agree. I was standing in front of the last building at the edge of Unity, a two storey affair of dull grey concrete shaped more like a bunker than a place of ill repute. There was a parking lot out the front, the asphalt letting vibrant green weeds flourish between the cracks.

A solitary faded blue two-seater was parked next to the front doors in a bay marked out in faded yellow paint that proclaimed “No Parking”.

Over the metal faced doors, scratched and dented to show the rusty panels beneath the paintwork, was an unlit neon sign. It read “Morituri’s”, with no other identification or opening times shown anywhere.

I went to the front doors and gave them a push to no effect. Just to be sure I gave them a tug outwards as well, but they remained steadfastly closed. I leaned forwards and placed my ear against the cold metal door, trying to detect any noise from within. Dead silence was all I could hear, other than the pounding of my own blood in my ear.

“I’m going to check around the back” I said into the mike.

“Copy that” Ghost answered me. I shot a glance around me but I couldn’t see any sign of him. He chuckled softly in my ear as he observed my expression. “If you could see me I wouldn’t be any good at my job”

“Just cover my ass” I grunted and walked confidently to the edge of the building. On the south side was a service alley, wide enough to allow trucks and delivery vans access to the rear. I headed down that, noting the rotten tarmac showed evidence of vehicles using it recently.

“Some big vehicles have been down this alley” I commented to Ghost. “Heavy ones judging from the tracks they have left”

I was nearly at the end of the building and ahead I could see a low roofed shed occupying the far end of a concrete hard stand. A truck was parked there, one with a human driver based on the portion of the cab I could see. Voices drifted from around the corner, somewhere at the back of the building. I pushed myself hard against the concrete wall and edged closer, peeking carefully around the corner.

Two men were carrying a long, black bag between them using carrying handles on the sides. The men were wearing the dark grey uniforms of the Warden Corps and they were complaining as they loaded the limp bag into the open rear doors of the truck. I had seen enough of those bags in my time as an officer in the Police Auxiliary to know what it was.

It was a body bag and judging by the way they handled the heavy load it was occupied.

I thought that was an interesting enough scene, when two more men appeared with a second body bag between them. These two men were in pale green coveralls, their necks adorned with the white plastic collars of Janglers. A third man followed them, a tall and lanky guy with anaemic looking skin and dank grey hair hanging in loose strands down his back.

“Don’t drop the bloody bags” he warned the men in a rasping whisper of a voice. “Last time you assholes dropped one and it split right open. Took me half a day to wash all the stink away”

“Yeah, yeah, Francis” grumbled one of the Wardens. “Your life is such a fucking misery”

The two Wardens stood back at a safe distance while the prisoners loaded the second bag. Once the bag was laid next to the first, the Wardens told the prisoners to climb in the back as well.

“With the bodies?” one demanded. The Warden who had spoken earlier took a small remote from his pocket and held it forward, thumb hovering over the activation button. The prisoner quailed visibly and with some unhappy muttering climbed into the back of the truck.

“I thought you would see it my way, Ten-Fifty-Seven” he said with a grim laugh. “You too, Eight-Nineteen-Six” he said to the second man, who clambered in after his fellow inmate. The second Warden closed the rear doors with a clang and dogged them shut. After a cursory check the doors were secure both Wardens headed to the vehicle cab.

Time for me to go.

I hustled back the way I had come, hearing the heavy whine of big electric motors cycling up to full power. As soon as I reached the building front I dashed sideways and took cover behind the blue car, peeking out from around the buckled rear bumper. Soon enough the truck drove out through the parking lot and turned onto the road.

As it passed, I could see the logo emblazoned on the side of the truck. It wasn’t a Warden Corps vehicle, which I had guessed already. The logo identified it as belonging to the SAND company, the same one we had visited back in the Spit.

Once it was halfway down the road, I got out from my cover and stood on the sidewalk. I watched as the truck slowed at the intersection, then turned right. It was heading west, away from the town centre and the road which led to the Camp gates.

“I wonder what is down there?” I said more to myself. I would love to have a drone follow the truck, but the only ones we had were the palm drones. Even if they were charged, they had no chance of keeping up with a vehicle.

“I can head out that way tonight on my bike” Ghost offered in my ear. “Did you want to come with me?”

“I’d love to but I have a date tonight with Mabel and Bobbi” I replied. “They are going to show me the nightlife of Unity”

“Stay out of trouble” he warned me. “You are interviewing the Warden tomorrow”

“Of course” I lied to my partner.

=====

The Restful Kingdom, Unity Townsite

It was late afternoon by the time I returned to the motel. Ghost met me at our bikes and then we went into my room while we discussed our plans.

Once night fell he was going to head out west, following the road the SAND truck had taken. With any luck he might identify some possible locations the vehicle had gone to.

I was going to meet Bobbi and Mabel at the Eat, My Pussy and have some dinner and a few drinks. After that I would see what the night would bring.

Ghost admonished me to be careful once more then departed for his own room. He wanted to get his palm drones fully charged before setting out. I waved him goodbye with more promises to behave then settled onto my bed.

First I called Jan, spending a half hour telling her as little as possible about my journey here. Instead I focussed on what she and Amy had been up, which then led to five minutes listening to my god-daughter relay her day to me in excruciating detail.

Apparently Timmy from her Day Care group was the most horrible boy she had ever met and teased her constantly. He ended the day by telling her she was ugly and stupid so she punched him in the face. It sounded like true love to me, however I told Amy she shouldn’t hit boys in the face. Try kicking them in the nuts instead.

After Jan finished telling me off for that suggestion, we chatted for a while longer. We ended the call just before Six PM with a final extended series of goodbyes.

“I love you” I said to her as I disconnected the call. She would be mad at me now because I hadn’t given her the chance to tell me I was a liar. Which was very true, except in this case I mean it.

Next I rang Papa, covering much the same ground with my father. He told me Minke was doing fine but she was missing me. She had spent the day working out in the gym, doing some sparring with Hanna-Lei and helping the Weng family clean the place.

“Sounds like she is fitting in really well, Papa” I told him.

“Yeah, she is” he agreed happily. “We are about to go have dinner with Hanna-Lei at their place. Mrs Weng is cooking us her Family Banquet special to welcome Minke to the building”

“What!” I yelled. “She only ever does that at New Years!”

“I know” Papa replied. “Seems that Minke has made a good impression on the Weng family. They took to her right away”

I sat in stony silence for a good moment, cursing my luck that I was hundreds of kilometres to the north of Spitfield. Mrs Weng’s banquets were legendary and I had only ever been invited to them twice in all the years I had known the family.

“Hang on, Minke wants to have a word” Papa interrupted into my jealous thoughts and I heard a little fumbling before Minke came on the line.

“Luisa!” she called out cheerfully. “It’s me!” she announced rather unnecessarily. She continued talking at a fast pace, relaying the past twenty fours since I had seen her in detail. How she had cleaned up my old room, helped Papa cook dinner, then what they did for breakfast this morning.

It went on for some time, with me saying “Yes” and “Uh-huh” at appropriate intervals. I was struck by how similar this was to my conversation with Amy earlier in the evening. Funnily enough, the thought filled me with a warm glow.

The only sour note came at the end, when she told me there had been no sign of Victor. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy he had not shown his face around Minke or my Papa. I was just worried about where the asshole was. Wherever he was lurking, someone was being hurt.

“Stay safe, Minke” I said to her at the end of the call.

“You too, Luisa” she replied. We both paused and I guessed we wanted to say more to each other, yet the time wasn’t right. I disconnected the call and lay back on the motel bed, thinking about my future.

=====

My phone rang, rousing me from a nap I hadn’t planned on taking. It was just after Seven PM and I cursed loudly. I was meeting Bobbi at the eatery in half an hour.

“Hello?” I said before I had checked the caller ID.

“Luisa? It’s me, Georgia. Are you Okay?”

“What? Sorry, yes I am fine” I assured her. “Just woke up so I am still trying to remember where I am”

“Good” Georgia said. “I have been checking the Sentries I left and they are all still functioning correctly. The cloned versions are in place too so I don’t think my stealthed versions have been detected”

“That’s cool” I responded. I dragged myself to a sitting position on the bed so I wouldn’t be tempted to drift off again.

“Hey Georgia, can you check something for me?” I asked her. “Can you find out if Spitfield Automated Network and Distribution have any warehouses or depots located close to Camp One? Particularly to the west of Unity township”

“The SAND Group? Sure, give me five” she replied readily. I waited silently while she accessed the Net, diving into datastreams public and private.

“No, they have a relay warehouse on the Central Highway, about ten kilometres from the Access Road intersection. That puts it roughly twenty klicks east of the town. There is nothing else I can identify linked to the SAND group”

“Okay, I didn’t expect it to be that easy” I told her. “Thanks for checking things out”

“Anything for you, Luisa” she said with a gentle laugh. “Any other dives I can do for you while I am on the line?”

“No, I use up enough of your time as it is” I told her. “I do appreciate it, by the way”

“I know you do” Georgia responded. “Okay, I’ll let you go”

“Pardon?” I said.

“You are about to tell me you have to leave to meet up with some contacts” Georgia laughed at me. “Sorry, it’s that whole Pre-Cog thing. Anyway, I know you are busy so I’ll hang up now”

“Thanks Georgia. I’ll call you tomorrow”

“Sure” she said and then the call disconnected. I sat and looked at my phone for a while, feeling like there was more I needed to say to her. That was becoming a recurring feature in my life. Then I shook myself to clear my head, dropped the phone on the bed and stood up.

It was time to get ready for a night out in Unity.